Dominoes
by December Dragons
Summary: Fuuka invites Mr. Koiwai to go out on a jog. Unbeknownst to her at the time, this seemingly small action created a domino effect in her life.


The sun was shining on this beautiful Saturday morning. The leaves in the local park were turning varying shades of reds, oranges, and yellows. A certain brown-haired teen was jogging against a cool breeze. Her face was flushed, cheeks red, and sweat on her brow—all dwarfed by the determination in her spirit. She was determined to run these extra pounds off her, even if she had to die trying. Ok, that was a slight exaggeration, but the Rocky music that was playing in her head convinced her that she could do almost anything.

While keeping her pace she turned around and said, "You all right there, old-timer?"

An older man slowly jogged into her view. Compared to her the man wasn't looking too ripe. His longish black hair and forehead were drenched with sweat. The white shirt had a very noticeable stain on the front and underneath his arms. Huffing and puffing, he slowly caught up to the girl and collapsed Indian-style on the ground. "How…can…you have so…much energy?" he struggled to say, his chest heaving between every word.

The teen seemed to ignore that. "Well, we've been going at it for a while, so let's take a break." She scanned the park, finding a bench that was conveniently near a couple of vending machines. "Wanna race over there?" she challenged, pointing at the next destination.

"Only if you want to attend my funeral," he said, giving a wry smile. Koiwai wasn't as young as he used to be, or so he likes to kid himself. In truth he's just lazy when it came to exercise.

As he damn near collapsed on the bench he wondered how on Earth he got suckered into jogging by his next-door neighbor. It's almost as if Fuuka wanted to kill him. He wasn't the worst guy in the world, but his constant jokes didn't warrant a massive coronary. His thoughts were interrupted by something cold resting on his cheek.

He accepted this godsend and started drinking. Tomato juice. Not his preferred choice, but as long as Fuuka didn't wring him out for money he'll gladly accept almost anything for free.

"You think you can go in five?" Fuuka asked.

"How about we stop after this?" Koiwai gave another one of his wry smiles. Fuuka always liked those. "I think we've done enough for today."

She sat to his left and seemed to consider it. "Sure. If I can keep this up," she began, patting her belly, "then I'll be able to wrangle a guy in no time."

Koiwai stared at her belly for a minute. "I hear pet centers are practically giving cats away."

"I am not above hitting an old man," Fuuka joshed, lightly shoving his shoulder.

"I'm not that old."

"Are you over thirty?"

"Not yet."

"Okay, okay, maybe not old, but considerably older than I am," she relented, "That's close enough."

"Why are we even jogging together?"

That question brought a light blush on her face, but she stifled it almost immediately. "Well, I need a boyfriend, and you need to live longer so you can take care of Yotsuba-chan and not die of a heart attack in a few years. Besides, cardio is supposed to be good for you. If I did it alone, I probably wouldn't have made it this far."

Koiwai stared off in the distance, finally focusing on a leaf rustling in the wind. Maybe he should do the same. No, not get a boyfriend, but in the same line of thought. Wow, when was the last time he was even _with_ a woman? The internet is fantastic, but not as good as the real thing. Okay, okay. Let's stay away from the gutter. Besides, he can't just think about himself. Yotsuba needed a mother as well, hopefully before he had to discuss puberty to her. Well, if worse comes to worse and assuming that the Ayases will still be living next door, he can have them discuss it to them. That's a better part of a decade away though—a long time for them to be lonely.

He just happened to look out at the corner of his eye and noticed that Fuuka was watching him rather intently. "What'cha thinking about?"

"The same as you, finding a significant other," Koiwai confessed. "You still have some time, but I'm not exactly getting younger."

"You're not exactly a stud muffin either," Fuuka teased.

"Oh, I can't joke about your looks, but you can?" Koiwai returned. "How is that fair?" Fuuka just shrugged her shoulders. "Aren't you a little too young to be looking for a boyfriend?"

"I am of marriageable age!" she shot back, giving his shoulder another playful shove. She stretched out her arms in front of her. "Yeah well, I certainly feel older. Being with Yotsuba fulltime must be a real chore, huh?"

"No offense to your family," Koiwai whispered, leaning slightly towards her, "but I do not envy them right now."

She stifled the giggle. "No offense taken."

"I mean towards your family, not you."

"I will leave your dying ass right here in this park!" Now it was Koiwai's turn to laugh. "When was the last time you ever had taken out a woman on a date?"

He tilted his head back as if in thought for a moment. "Is Koizumi still the prime minister? I hadn't much of a chance since I adopted her."

Fuuka glanced at her watch and promptly stood up. "Well, I guess we should be going back. The police might arrest an old man hanging out with a young thing like me."

"I'm not that old," Koiwai protested while standing up, a few joints cracked just to spite him.

The walk home was relaxing and quiet. Fuuka enjoyed just hanging out with him, and that was part of the reason why she invited him to job with her. Asagi teased her about having a crush on him this morning when she found out who she was jogging with. She liked him as a friend, but it's nowhere near being in love with the man. She wasn't a stranger to this either—she's had many crushes and even a boyfriend during the summer a few years back. Oh, she almost forgot about the breakup that almost ruined her life thanks to Yotsuba. Since then there just wasn't many boys she had an interest in. The girls in her class that she could loosely call her friends would ogle whatever hottie and even ask her opinion about them. Shrugs and mutters were all she gave, and they would wrinkle their noses at it as if they smelled something wrong and carry on with something else. However, she was being left in the dust as those "friends" started hooking up. Even Shimau might be going out with someone! If she didn't step up her game, she would graduate as an old maid.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she bumped into Koiwai. When she realized that she snapped her cranberry face away. He didn't seem to mind the bump or notice the furious blush. "Can you send her over in a few minutes? I'm sure she would like something to eat."

"Y-yeah," she stammered as she nervously brushed her bangs away from her face just for them to fall back into place. "I'm sure they got that covered, but I'll send her over. No problem. So…same time next week?"

"If I don't call in sick before," he jested. He opened the gate and gave her a wave. "Later."

Fuuka just stood there waving vaguely like an idiot. Her skin had a light tingle. She convinced that it wasn't next week but instead the bundle of green energy that was sure to be waiting for her next door.

Sadly for her, Asagi was also there on the sofa sucking on a blue popsicle and channel surfing. "So," Asagi began without even looking from the TV, stopping Fuuka in her tracks. She had wanted to go to her bedroom to freshen up undetected. She could hear what she assumed was Yotsuba in Ena's room. "How was it?"

"Killer," Fuuka replied. "Soon I'll get used to it and maybe even trim my belly a bit."

"You don't trim your muffin top by doing cardio," Asagi corrected her. This time she looked at her straight in the eye. "Did you kiss him?"

"Drop dead!" she shouted. Immediately she cupped her mouth. Their mother didn't like it when they yelled for no viable reason. "We didn't kiss!" she hissed. "We just talked."

Asagi cocked an eyebrow. "And…?"

"And we jogged. What else did you expect? I'm not interested in him."

"Your mouth says 'no,' but your cheeks scream 'yes.'" Fuuka then realized that her face was again flushed, but she ignored it. "Are you two at least going 'jogging' again, or whatever you kids call it these days?"

"Yeah."

"Then remember to drop by the convenience store next time and buy some more popsicles." She finished her stick and threw it right into the trash can. She grinned smugly to herself. "We'll be out by then."

Fuuka rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs to her room. She's so sick and tired of Asagi trying to play cupid. Asagi had tried hooking her up or at least giving her advice, at least embarrassing her or at most ending in utter failure. Okay, so she's probably open to at least thinking about romantically pursuing Mr. Koiwai, but she feared that if Asagi is involved in any way, shape, or form that it would just crash and burn. Fuuka would really not rather deal with that.

Ena's probably pulling her hair out, so Yotsuba should be going home soon. Fuuka snickered at the thought. "A few more minutes isn't going to kill her," she chimed.

**Author's Note****: I've done what I want for this chapter. However, this may warrant another chapter or more. If I do that while simultaneously working on Sunny Days Through Lavender Eyes it might my interest may wane and it'll wind up with 11 chapters over the course of 3 years with no actual progress. Anyways, let me know of what you think. Until next time, faithful readers.**


End file.
